


I'm not Renly

by ChocoNut



Series: Modern JB love [84]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Mild Smut, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 15:08:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30040563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocoNut/pseuds/ChocoNut
Summary: Five times Jaime steps in as a friend to help Brienne get over her breakup, and the one time he wants to be more.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Series: Modern JB love [84]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1557871
Comments: 67
Kudos: 121





	I'm not Renly

**Author's Note:**

> This one is an impulse piece, triggered by the hate I've gotten on tumblr by the Anon who's tired of my daily posting and wants me to quit writing.

He looks at her in a way that makes her want to let go of everything and fling herself into his arms. 

“You’re not yet over him.” It’s not a question. Jaime knows her that well - so very well that he can read it all in her eyes.

Which is why Brienne refrains from answering. If she opens her mouth he’ll know for sure that she’s not strong enough to deal with this setback.

“Brienne.”

She can feel the slight twitch in her shoulders - the tenderness in his voice is too much. Avoiding his eyes, she busies herself with her phone.

“Brienne, look at me.”

She succumbs. She has to, at the way he says her name. There’s only so much she can do to keep her emotions from him.

“Come here.”

A touch on her shoulder is all it takes. Before she can blink she’s in his arms, breathing heavily against his chest.

“You can cry if you want,” he whispers, caressing her back. “I won’t judge you or anything.”

“I’m fine,” she croaks, taking in his familiar scent.

Jaime being Jaime, he knows she’s not. “I’m not Renly and I can’t fill in for him.” He pulls her closer. “But I’ll do whatever I can to make you feel better.”

“You’re a good friend,” she murmurs into the firm comfort of his chest.

When the tears insist on showing up, she doesn’t try to hold them back.

+++++

“Happy Birthday!”

Pastry box in one hand and a gift bag in the other, it is Jaime instead of her ex-boyfriend at her doorstep before her watch can finish beeping till twelve.

“You don’t usually turn up.” Brienne lets him in, clueless about this and truly surprised. “Every year it’s Renly who—”

“I’m not Renly,” he says, wrapping her in a hug. “But I can do my bit to make you feel wanted on your day.”

She drapes her arms around his neck. “You made my day before it even started.”

“That’s what friends are for, wench.”

She drifts into the welcome feel of his body against hers. For the first time since that fateful evening, she doesn’t feel the emptiness that much. 

+++++

Fourteenth of February has never felt this insignificant before.

“You’re thinking of the party,” Jaime guesses, stepping into her mind. “About him.”

“Every year we would—”

“—have a blast.” He fishes out an envelope from his pocket and holds it out to her. “Two tickets to tonight’s Valentine bash.” When she looks on quizzically, he presses it into her hand. “You’re not missing your share of the fun because he walked out of your life.”

“But—”

“I can be your date,” he suggests, reading the question in her eyes. “We could go as friends.”

Silent for a moment, Brienne doesn’t know whether to thank the gods for a friend like him or lament about the lack of love in her life.

“I’m not Renly.” He gives her hand a gentle squeeze. “But he’s not what you need right now.”

It will be a lovers’ night, though not for them. There will be romance in the air, and drinking and dancing, but unlike each year, this party won’t end with their passionate kisses and sweet declarations of love.

Brienne glances again at her friend. If only she’d met him first... Better still, if only she’d never known the boyfriend who broke her heart.

If only Jaime were something else...

+++++ 

“You’re not drinking.” 

“I am.” Brienne takes a sip to show him she’s still around. Mentally.

“Brooding about him?”

This time her friend is wrong, but there’s no point correcting him.

“I’m just—” She looks down at her watch. With just thirty seconds to the new year, this is the first time she’s going to be watching wistfully as all the other couples share a kiss with their significant others. “Renly used to—”

“—kiss you at midnight. I know.” His voice is so soft, yet she can hear him over the music and the chattering crowd. “Brienne, I—” He takes a deep breath, then takes her hand. “I’m not Renly, but I could… kiss you tonight.”

Ignoring the tingling at the base of her spine, she takes a moment to process his offer.

“A friendly little kiss, that’s all,” he clarifies, fingers slipping into the gaps between hers.

“I—”

The chimes come in, and the crowd cheers, but his lips on hers silence them all.

When the moment slips away, she’s conscious again. This night won’t end in them making promises of a lifetime together, but it will certainly have her thinking about this for long, wishing for him to do this again a year from now. 

If only they could share a _real_ kiss...

+++++ 

“How are the preparations going?”

Brienne pauses from editing her presentation. “What preparations?”

“Your annual getaway to Highgarden.” This is the trip she eagerly awaits each year, one that she and Renly synchronize their vacations for.

“I’m not going,” she tells him flatly, then goes back to work.

“And why is that?”

“Because—” She re-inserts a line she’d accidentally struck off while talking to him. “This is not something you go to on your own.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Closing her laptop, she looks at him.

His eyes don’t approve of her burying herself in work all the time. “You need a few days off.”

“Jaime, you don’t have to—”

“I’m not Renly, but I could give you company.” He shoots down her reluctance with a smile that won’t take a no for an answer. “If you’ll have me.”

Unlike every year, there will be no strolling through the rose bushes hand in hand. Nor will they be lying blissfully on the grass under the starry sky. But his eyes tell her that there will be all she needs. 

If only her need could’ve been something else...

+++++

There’s the grass and the moon is shining upon them. Stars stud the night sky, too. But instead of lying there holding hands with a lover, this is a friend she’s sitting beside, a man whose companionship she’ll treasure for as long as she’s blessed with it.

“Thank you,” Brienne whispers, reaching for his fingers.

“For what?”

“For stubbornly bringing me on this trip.” She can feel her lips twitching. “For being there.” 

“I know I’m not Renly—” Jaime shifts closer. Within no time his breathing gets louder than the cacophony of the night life that inhabits the garden. “But I want to be—” His voice gets thicker, his look intense. “I want to be what he was, Brienne. I—”

“You’re more,” she whispers, her fluttering fingers finding his heart. “You’re _you_.”

When he kisses her, it feels more real than _real_ has ever been for her. 

+++++

He is not Renly. And he’s going nowhere. 

This isn’t going to end with tonight.

The warmth his eyes bear has never shone in Renly’s. Kisses were just kisses when it came to Renly, but with Jaime it feels far more than his lips on her skin. 

With Renly, sex was just that, but this feels like—

She whimpers when his hot breath gushes down her neck. His knuckles brush her nipples, and her senses seizing the contact, she arches into his hips like a string expertly plucked. His touch works its way around her body, tying her to him - his fingertips kissing the inside of her thighs, then lazing their upwards to the sweet throb between her legs. His toes stroke her ankle, tickling her, moving to the steady up and down of the fingers that seem to know what they’re doing. His stubble greedy for more than a nuzzle between her breasts, he rubs against her nipples until she moans, and when he has her writhing, he soothes away the burning with generous flicks of his tongue.

With Renly, the sailing has been smooth, their romance, though not insipid, lacking the windy thrill, the fire of an explosive passion. While he’s never found faults with her, he has, not once, looked at her like _this_. Many nights they’ve been together, but he has never touched her like this.

With Jaime, she’s had her share of mockery, his snide remarks crushing her more than just a handful of times, but the gaze that strolls down her body tonight _sees_ her, not the one he calls _wench_ , the one he’d once upon a time generously criticized. 

The woman she is in his mind is beautiful, someone he wants to touch and kiss and hold close to his chest.

This is him, though not the him she’s been with for years.

For years, she’s assumed she knows her friend, but it is under the cover of this passionate night that he introduces her to what lies beyond the man she’s seen. Each kiss unveils something about him, and the more sighs they exchange, the more she learns of who he is, of what this will evolve to be.

He traps her with his body, wraps her in sheets of flames. His mouth discovers her as she discovers the sensation of his cock nudging her folds - with Renly there never was such teasing, such sizzling surrender to lust.

With Renly—

“Oh, Brienne,” he grunts, teeth scraping her sore nipple when he thrusts into her.

_Jaime._

With a rasp of his name, Brienne wraps her legs around him, taking him deeper. This sweat and skin, the thick hot cock ramming into her, the kisses that rain down on her, claiming her mouth and tugging at her nipples - this is all _him._

Renly belonged to yesterday. This is now. Now is Jaime. 

The high he takes her to blinds her but leaves just one thing behind. One sensation. One thought.

His violent shudders, then the heavy breaths that bathe her chest - they speak her name though he says not a word.

Their hearts beat together, cruising along towards a normal after a torrid trip beyond anything she’s been to. Something in their song tells her that while another man had been to her heart first, Jaime will be the last.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and all the support.  
> I'm pretty upset about all that happened, and not quite sure if I'll be posting regularly in the coming week. It depends on my mood, really.


End file.
